1 "Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery, its victims never depart!

2 The crack of a whip, the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses and clattering chariots.

3 The horseman charge with both the bright sword and the glittering spear, and there is a multitude of slain and a great number of carcases. There is no end of the corpses; they stumble over the corpses!

4 All because of the multitude of the [ spiritual] whoredoms of the seductive harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts who sells nations through her whoredoms and families through her enchantments.

5 Behold, I am against you, says the LORD of hosts. I will lift your skirts over your face, and I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame.

6 And I will cast abominable filth upon you and make you vile, and I will make you a spectacle.

7 And it shall come to pass, that all those who look on you, will flee from you and say, 'Nineveh is laid waste; who will mourn her?' Where shall I find comforters for you?

8 Are you better than populous Thebes, which was situated on the Nile; and had the waters around it, whose rampart [defense] was the river and her wall was the water?

9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was boundless. Put and Lubim were her helpers.

10 Yet she was carried away; she went into captivity. Her young children were dashed in pieces at the street corners; they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.

11 You too will become drunken; you will hide. You also will seek refuge because of the enemy.

12 All your fortresses shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs; if they are shaken, they will fall into the mouth of the eater.

13 Behold, your troops in the midst of you are women; the gates of your land shall be set wide open to your enemies; the fire shall devour the bars of your gates.

14 Draw waters for the siege, fortify your fortresses! Go into the clay and tread the mortar, repair the bricks.

15 But there the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you off; it will eat you up like the locust. Make yourself many like the locust; make yourself many like the swarming locusts!

16 You have increased your merchants more than the stars of heaven. The locust spoils and flies away.

17 Your guards are like the locusts and your officials like the swarms of locust, which camp in the hedges on a cold day; but when the sun rises ,they fly away, and no one knows where they are.

18 Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; your nobles dwell in the dust. Your people are scattered upon the mountains and no one gathers them.

19 There is no healing of your wound; your injury is grievous. All who hear the news of you shall clap their hands over you. For upon whom has your wickedness not passed continually?"